by Joseph P. Tartaro | Executive Editor
A little known provision of New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s SAFE Act is causing huge headaches for county officials and all of an estimated 1 million pistol permit holders outside New York City, Nassau, Suffolk and Westchester counties, that already have renewal pistol licensing.
Under the SAFE ACT, everyone who was issued a handgun license before Jan. 15, 2013 most recertify the license with state police before Jan. 31, 2018. Failure to do so will result in cancellation of the license, seizure of all handguns in possession and possible felony firearms penalties.
Recertification of the handgun license is not difficult. It can be done online or at the county pistol licensing office where the license was issued.
The big problem is that as of this writing on Dec. 18 only an estimated 10 to 12 percent of those licensees have complied. As the permit deadline looms for tens of thousands of New York gun owners everyone seems to be scrabbling, especially the media, with newspapers and radio and television stations across the state doing news reports warning of the impending deadline.
Meanwhile, pistol licensing authorities are pulling out their hair over the bureaucratic nightmare Cuomo’s law is posing for them.
One news report from Clinton County reported that as of the middle of December only 2,250 Clinton County residents had completed their recertification paperwork. However, thousands more still needed to update their permits, according to a county official.
In Otsego County, where pistol permits are issued by the local Sheriff’s Office, Sheriff Richard Devlin said he has used social-media posts to remind pistol owners of the coming renewal deadline.
“The number of people who say they didn’t realize they had to recertify is amazing,” he said.
He noted that, as a holder of a pistol permit, he did get a mailed notice from the State Police, though many others could not recall getting such a notice.
What will happen once the deadline arrives and pistol owners have not updated their forms?
“Our pistol-permit people will be getting some sort of list after the cutoff date for people who are revoked,” he said. “But they (State Police) haven’t said what they expect.”
As for visiting the homes of those whose permits lapsed, Devlin said, “We don’t have the time to do it. If the State Police have the time to do it, that’s fine.”
State Police emphasized that the responsibility for administration of those permits lies with the counties, and any enforcement decisions would be determined by the licensing jurisdictions.
“Local licensing officials are responsible for taking action on the licenses they issue, including revocation, and under state law, they will have the ability to revoke a license if it is not recertified by the applicable deadline,” State Police said in a statement issued from the agency’s Albany headquarters.
“Courts may also issue orders directing law enforcement agencies to take possession of illegally possessed firearms in appropriate cases.”
The SAFE Act, which bans some firearms that the Cuomo administration has designated as “assault weapons,” was enacted in January 2013 in the wake of a Newtown, Conn., school shooting massacre the previous month.
Cuomo issued a message of necessity to get a rapid vote on the measure, allowing him to announce that New York had passed the first gun-control measure in the nation in response the Sandy Hook Elementary killings.
State Police officials claimed that mailed notices were sent to 372,388 permit holders last January, advising them of the recertification requirement. However, I know I never received one; nor did my immediate acquaintances, and neither did any of my friends or relatives.
Troopers reportedly have also sent out press releases and used social media to remind gun owners of the obligation.
Though some upstate sheriffs argue that the law has done more to inconvenience law-abiding gun owners than it has to protect citizens from crime, Cuomo contends the SAFE Act is successful legislation.
He has also criticized Congress for not doing more to control access to firearms that have been linked to highly publicized mass killings.
“I believe when they write the history books they’re going to say, ‘New York got it right,” Cuomo said in October, but apparently is is ignoring the tens of thousands of “Repeal the SAFE Act” yard signs that proliferate throughout upstate New York.
In Lockport, County Clerk Joseph Jastrzemski said he has held six town hall meetings and had sitdowns with gun groups to remind residents of the approaching deadline for pistol permits.
So far, according to state statistics, 7,348 Niagara County gun owners have renewed their permits. But Jastrzemski pointed out that means that more than 20,000 gun owners have permits that will run out Jan. 31 if they don’t act by then.
At one town hall session, he recalled, he encountered a Korean War veteran who has had his pistol permit since 1964 and remains in the same home he was in then, yet never got a state notice.
`”If it wasn’t for these town hall meetings, he would have never known about this and could have lost his permit,” Jastrzemski said. “There is something wrong with the way this is being done.”
He said he questioned how permits could be revoked without adequate due process avenues for those who might be impacted.
But due process is not something that Cuomo and his supporters take too seriously, especially because his recertification scheme is a way for them to make formerly “good until revoked” lifetime licenses “renewable” licenses, a goal that eluded his father, Mario and other governors from both political parties over the years.
State Police have set up a toll-free line for those who have questions about the recertification process: 1-855-LAWGUNS (1-855-529-4867), and Permit holders can recertify their licenses online at the special State Police website: https://firearms.troopers.ny.gov/pprecert. You can also download the recertification forms to complete at home and mail back to the state police at the address on the forms. Finally, you can also confirm that your recertification has been complete and is in order.
I know because I did it online several weeks ago.
